August 29, 2011

He's an architect in his 20s, living — roommate free! — in New York City. Based on the street scene, he's right about here. He seems reasonably satisfied with it, as he describes minimalist impulses going back to childhood. There's room for a bed/sofa and a desk. My only outburst, watching that video, was "does he have WiFi?"

Picture a prison cell that size. Would it be too cruel? But inject the freedom to walk out the door at any time and have all of NYC. It's not cruel at all. When you're sleeping in your bed, the space around you doesn't really matter, and when you're sitting at that desk, it's not too different from a carrel in the library.

People can learn to abide all sorts of conditions that have minimal amenities. Prison and poverty, for example.

Asceticism has its adherents and proponents, as does Epicureanism.

I favor low expectations:"And I mean, I just don't know how anybody could enjoy anything more than I enjoy reading Charlton Heston's autobiography, or, you know, getting up in the morning and having the cup of cold coffee that's been waiting for me all night, still there for me to drink in the morning! And no cockroach or fly has died in it overnight. I mean, I'm just so thrilled when I get up and I see that coffee there just the way I wanted it, I mean, I just can't imagine how anybody could enjoy something else any more than that!"

It would appear Carol Hermanism is contagious. Our good professor asks the question if a prison cell this size would be cruel. Having worked @ Leavenworth and visited numerous jails and prisons the answer is simple. Inmates would kill for an individual cell this size..the average cell is about half the size of this apartment. Unless you're on lock down or in disciplinary segregation, you are out of your cell most of the time working, eating, socializing, and packing shit in the shower!

Prisons are hell. We need to have programs for kids to visit prisons and let them know just how hellish they are.

His place isn't "minimal", it's spartan. To be minimal you have to be able to afford a big place and then choose not to fill it, and also be able to afford the time and/or money necessary to keep it spotless.

I have a friend who used to work in real estate in Manhattan and who I think rented out some apartments in this building.

The bathrooms are down the hall, shared. It's like a dorm, except the building has occupants of all ages.

The whole thing seems very sad and lonely to me. Unless it's a temporary measure for him. The smallness suggests that he doesn't want to share his life with anyone. I mean, you could bring a guy home for a night, and it would be a novel experience for him to see how you live, I'm sure, but you couldn't hang around with someone else in a place like that.

Flagellantism was a 13th and 14th centuries movement, consisting of radicals in the Catholic Church. It began as a militant pilgrimage and was later condemned by the Catholic Church as heretical. The followers were noted for including public flagellation in their rituals.

At first, flagellation became a form of penance in the Catholic Church, especially in ascetic monastic orders. For example, the 11th century zealot Dominicus Loricatus once repeated the entire Psalter twenty times in one week, accompanying each psalm with a hundred lash-strokes to his back. The distinction of the Flagellants was to take this self-mortification into the cities and other public spaces as a demonstration of piety. As well as flagellation, the rituals were built around processions, hymns, distinct gestures, uniforms, and discipline.

The movement did not have a central doctrine or overall leaders, but a popular passion for the movement occurred all over Europe in separate outbreaks. The first recorded incident was in Perugia in 1259, the year after severe crop damage and famine throughout Europe.

The prime cause of the Perugia episode is unclear, but it followed an outbreak of an epidemic and chroniclers report how the mania spread throughout almost all the people of the city. Thousands of citizens gathered in great processions, singing and with crosses and banners, they marched throughout the city whipping themselves. It is reported that surprising acts of charity and repentance accompanied the marchers. However, one chronicler noted that anyone who did not join in the flagellation was accused of being in league with the devil. They also killed Jews and priests who opposed them. Marvin Harris[1] links them to the Messianic preaching of Gioacchino da Fiore.

The movement spread across Northern Italy, up to 10,000 strong groups processing in Modena, Bologna, Reggio and Parma although certain city authorities refused the Flagellant processions entry. However enthusiasm for the movement diminished as suddenly as it arose. When they preached that mere participation in their processions cleaned sins, the Pope banned the movement in January 1261.

I lived in a run down trailer park my last year in college. My trailer was long but only about 8 feet wide. No shower or tub -- there was a public shower. Many of the other residents, some with kids, had less space.

Good for this kid. At least he's walking the walk. Architecture history is littered with socialist nobs like Le Corbusier who were more interested in inflicting their social-engineering-inspired architecture on others.

This actually reminds me of the hotel rooms I've had in NYC. Usually a room big enough for a double bed with about a foot of clearance on 3 sides. Usually a window that looks out onto a brick wall.

NYC is frenetic, not a place where you contemplate life for hours at a time with your thumb up your ass. A tiny place is less of a detriment there as the city accommodates a lot of movement and exploration.

As far as the architecture industry goes, he couldn't be in a better place in the world. Lots of firms there to try and find work. NYC is to architects as DC is to govt workers. He can make a good nut there before marrying and moving to the suburbs to have kids.

Actually, isn't this harking back to something we used to have: Single Room Occupancy hotels, with bathrooms down the hall?

It was a really cheap way to live, and in a lot of cities, you could easily find fun things to do and places to hang out, away from work.

As I recall, SROs went away because of zoning, disapproval, and--I'm guessing--because the sorts of tactics that would be used to control undesirable behavior, and thus keep the environment acceptable, probably ran afoul of latter day regulations.